No-flight order 'could ease tomorrow'
Weather forecasters today signalled a no-flight order imposed here amid fears over the volcanic ash cloud will ease tomorrow evening.
Met Éireann said information from geological experts in London suggested the eruption in Iceland has virtually stopped and the plume may move north in the next 24-36 hours.
David Murphy, head of the agency’s aviation services division, said he was optimistic the situation would dramatically improve after five days of almost total airspace shut down.
“The good news is that the most recent advice we have from the London Volcano Ash Advisory Centre is that the eruption has virtually ceased with only small amounts of ash and it goes up only to about 6,000ft,” he told RTÉ Radio.
“If that continues, in other words if the eruption has ceased and remains stopped then the current ash plume will probably be blown away from the UK and Ireland overnight, by tomorrow night at the latest.
“There’s a good chance that Ireland and UK airspace, or most of it, will be clear by some time coming into tomorrow evening or at the latest the following morning.”
Aviation chiefs had feared Irish airspace would be closed until the end of the week.
But Mr Murphy said weather patterns should return to the traditional south-westerly direction towards the end of the week.
“Even if it erupts by Friday the airflow at that stage suggests that we will remain clear along with most of western Europe,” he said.
Flight bans are in place until 6pm today but the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is expected to further extend the order.
“Similar types of restrictions are enforced in Northern and Central Europe as well as the UK,” the IAA said.
Ahead of a video conference of European transport ministers, the IAA said it hoped to use the experience of American air traffic chiefs when Mount St Helen’s erupted in 1980.
Eamonn Brennan, IAA chief executive, said safety was the top priority but added that they wanted authorities to examine scientific data to see if restrictions could be eased.
The IAA said it has been told the Icelandic volcano has been pumping out an average of 750 metric tonnes of ash a second over the past five days,
The Government’s emergency planning taskforce met in central Dublin and said the latest geological reports showed activity at the volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier has diminished.
Environment Minister John Gormley said the matter had been discussed at Cabinet and he was in constant contact with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“It’s a very serious issue for this country, an island state that depends, for our exports and for our tourism, on planes. We hope that we can find a solution to this as quickly as possible,” he said.
“It is very much dependent on weather conditions and we’ve had unusual weather patterns now where a country that is known for wind ... we haven’t had that wind and we haven’t had rain for quite some time.”
Quelling any potential public health fears, Mr Gormley said volcanic ash posed no threat to drinking water supplies.
Meanwhile Ryanair said today that one million of its passengers have been affected by the European airspace restrictions.
The airline - which has been forced to cancel 7,000 flights across its network - has grounded all services until 1pm on Wednesday.
The Dublin Airport Authority said 2,000 flights have been cancelled in and out of Dublin alone since last Thursday, causing disruption to a quarter of a million passengers.
